The Bridgeport Child Advocacy Coalition recently invited you to Bridgeport to a meeting on health care. Your staff reported that you could not come because your schedule was full. If you had come to Bridgeport, you would have heard from a number of your constituents about the need for national health care reform that includes a strong public insurance option.

You would have heard from Jim, a self-employed consultant. Twenty years ago, Jim quit his job to care for his wife, who had multiple sclerosis. In doing so, he lost his health insurance and had to purchase coverage privately. His wife eventually qualified for Social Security disability because of her medical condition. Jim relied on private insurance.

Then Jim got cancer. He was successfully treated. "All I was left with," he says, "was a pre-existing condition." Private health insurance became prohibitively expensive so Jim went for eight years without coverage. Jim eventually found a plan he could afford but he has a policy with a $5,000 deductible and it won't cover his pre-existing condition.

You would have heard from Zoraida, a small-business owner in Bridgeport. When business is good, she has health insurance for herself and her husband. But when business is not doing well, she goes without. She is lucky that she and her husband are healthy. She says, "By the time I pay my two mortgages and taxes on my home and business, business insurance, utilities -- and remember, this is my livelihood, so I have to cover my living expenses -- there is nothing left." Like many small-business owners, she cannot afford health coverage for her employees so she hires part-time workers. Turnover is high.

Rosita, a young widow with a 6-year-old daughter, would have come to the meeting. Rosita lost her job a year ago because of the recession. COBRA was too expensive, even with the subsidy from the federal stimulus program. Her daughter qualified for HUSKY, Connecticut's health insurance program for low-income children, but Rosita was just over the income level. So she has no health insurance. She has rheumatoid arthritis and has not been to the doctor or taken her medicine in months.

Jim, Zoraida, Rosita and the more than 300,000 uninsured residents living in Connecticut cannot wait any longer for national health care reform.

National health care reform with a strong public option makes economic sense. Health care costs nationally are expected to rise to $4.4 trillion by 2018. If there are no changes, health care spending will account for more than 20 percent of the nation's economy.

But supporting health care isn't just about economics. It is about doing what it is morally right.

No one in this country should be forced to choose between buying medicine and putting food on the table. Rosita should be able to get affordable health coverage even though she has no job. Jim should get health insurance that covers his pre-existing condition. And Zoraida should not have to sacrifice her livelihood to purchase insurance.

Bridgeport Child Advocacy Coalition urges you to support a strong national health care reform bill that includes a public insurance option. The public option is essential to provide the uninsured with affordable health care coverage. A public option is critical to ensure healthy competition and rein in costs. Without a public option, insurance premiums will keep escalating and few will be able to afford coverage.

We thank Sen. Dodd and Congressman Himes for their strong support for national health care reform with a public option.

Now it is your turn. Do not run from health care reform that will positively impact the lives of 300,000 of your constituents.

Sen. Lieberman, we implore you to listen to your constituents. Hear what they are saying. Do the right thing and support national health care reform with a strong public option. Rosita, Jim, Zoraida and hundreds of thousands of other residents cannot wait any longer.

Frances Newby is chairwoman and Barbara Edinberg is acting director of the Bridgeport Child Advocacy Coalition.